Comprehensive Description

Comprehensive Description

The Roundnose Grenadier (Coryphaenoides rupestris) reaches a maximum length of about a meter. Its body is plump with large, spiny scales and a short, broad snout. This is a demersal species (i.e., living at or near the sea bottom) and is found at depths of 100 to 800 meters. (Muus 1974) This fish, which may live more than 50 years, is one of the main target species of deep-water fisheries in the northeast Atlantic. (Lorance et al. 2008)

Bergstad et al. (2010) studied the feeding ecology of the Roundnose Grenadier on the northern mid-Atlantic Ridge. The ecology of this species has been relatively well studied in continental slope waters of the North Atlantic, but not on the mid-Atlantic Ridge. Bergstad et al. found that the diet consisted mainly of cephalopods, pelagic shrimps, and fish. Pelagic and benthopelagic copepods were the most numerous prey, but did not contribute much on a weight basis. Cephalopods were by far the most important prey of the small grenadiers, while shrimps and fish became increasingly significant with increasing size. Cephalopods appeared to be more important food items in this study than in previous investigations.